LITTLETON
A Littleton police officer was struck by a car and injured Wednesday while conducting speed checks with a handheld laser gun.
The female officer was on foot as she motioned a speeding vehicle to pull over near West Littleton Boulevard and South Greenwood Street. The 19-year-old driver of the car said she did not see the officer, police said.
Although the driver was not intoxicated, she will probably be charged in the accident, said Sgt. Sean Dugen of the Littleton Police Department.
The officer was taken to Swedish Medical Center and she is expected to make a full recovery, Dugen said.
“She is coherent, and she knows what’s going on, so we were encouraged by that,” Dugen said.
Additional local news briefs:
BOULDER
DA Lacy seeks boost in budget for big cases
Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy has asked county commissioners to increase her 2007 budget by $88,000, $55,000 of which would be used to hire investigators to help work on big cases, including the JonBenét Ramsey slaying.
Lacy’s request would push her office’s budget past $4 million for the first time.
She said investigator Mark Spray – who was at the center of the investigation into John Mark Karr, who was cleared in the JonBenét case despite claiming he killed her in 1996 – would continue to follow leads through the end of the year.
He was being paid $5,000 a month, Lacy said.
Lacy’s office spent about $40,000 investigating Karr and bringing him to Boulder from Thailand, where he had been working as a teacher.
County commissioners are expected to set the county’s budget in November.
BOULDER
Newly found planets orbit stars in a day
Five newly discovered planets orbit much closer to their stars than scientists thought possible, zipping around in less than a day, according to a paper published today in the journal Nature.
The team – including Timothy Brown with Boulder’s High Altitude Observatory – used the Hubble Space Telescope to peer into a region of space called the Galactic Bulge. They discovered 16 likely planets, five of which represent the new class of “ultra-short-period planets.”
Each of those is about the size of Jupiter and orbits a star lighter than our sun, according to the paper.
DENVER
Public reaction heard on union donor rules
Secretary of State Gigi Dennis heard public comments from lawyers and union members Wednesday on whether member organizations must get written permission not only from their members before using their dues for political activities but also from people who voluntarily contribute to the group.
Nearly all of the comments opposed the proposed rule, which, Dennis said, if passed, would probably not take effect until after the Nov. 7 election.
Mark Grueskin, a Democratic election lawyer, said that the proposed rules were an extension of rules that the two courts have struck down as exceeding Dennis’ authority.
GOLDEN
3 GOP ex-lawmakers back Dem Perlmutter
Three former Republican state senators endorsed Democratic congressional candidate Ed Perlmutter on Wednesday.
The endorsements came from Al Meiklejohn, a former Arvada senator; Dave Wattenberg, a former Walden senator; and Dottie Wham, a former Denver senator. They said they would be co-chairs of “Republicans for Perlmutter.”
The Perlmutter campaign also is sending mailings to Republicans across the 7th Congressional District featuring a letter from the three former state senators. In the letter, the former senators encourage a vote for Perlmutter and seek a campaign contribution for his campaign.
SANTA ROSA, Calif.
Karr’s child-porn trial indefinitely delayed
The trial of former JonBenét Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr on child pornography possession charges remains indefinitely postponed, as a judge wades through a flurry of defense motions aimed at getting the case dismissed.
In a hearing Tuesday, Karr’s attorneys accused prosecutors of withholding evidence that might have led to the five misdemeanor charges being dropped.
Karr’s ex-wife, Lara Knutson, told investigators in early September that the computer that allegedly held the five illegal images was not working at the time of his 2001 arrest.
His attorneys said prosecutors cannot prove that Karr knowingly possessed the images. They also claim the original warrant to search his house was based on a less-than-reliable informant.
GRAND JUNCTION
BLM cites impact of new Piceance drilling
A proposal to build nearly 1,100 new natural-gas wells in the Piceance Basin on Colorado’s Western Slope could destroy sage grouse habitat and adversely affect air quality and water flows in Piceance Creek, federal land managers said.
Exxon Mobil also wants to build a new gas plant and new pipelines in the area to expand existing gas operations, according to a Bureau of Land Management environmental assessment.
The projected effect on the environment and wildlife habitat is typical of natural-gas development in the area, which began in the 1950s, said BLM spokesman David Boyd.
But conservation groups said the study failed to consider the cumulative effects of energy development in the area.
The agency is seeking public comment through Nov. 3 on the assessment.
